Astrale Presents: Douglas Dare + Guest
Seen by Douglas himself as a bold rebirth and embrace of the electronic,
Omni is all at once a throbbing, avant-garde, queer, dark and cinematic
record imbued with a love of rave culture and sense of fearless
storytelling that’s deeply evocative.
Since 2013, Douglas has blurred classical, chamber-pop, folk and
avant-garde to dazzling effect, with a startling voice that can stop you
in your tracks. It’s why he’s played with luminaries like Nils Frahm,
Perfume Genius and Ólafur Arnalds, and was selected by David Lynch and
The Cure’s Robert Smith for their respective cultural festivals in
Manchester (MIF) and London (Meltdown).
But Douglas’s fourth album, Omni, is a fresh awakening. Encouraged by
Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths, he decided to step away from acoustic
instruments, especially the piano he grew up playing, and swapped them
for synths and drum machines.
His new music has much in common with Arca and the late SOPHIE, two
artists for whom self-expression meant liberation. “I got to hang out in
the studio with her,” says Douglas of the latter musician, “the way she
made music made a big impression on me.” And yet Omni is steeped in the
kind of deft storytelling, sweeping strings, elegant contrasts and
fairytale atmosphere that marks Douglas
out as a crucial and singular voice. It’s not often you hear a
strutting electro banger that could have been straight out of 90s Soho,
with vocal loops inspired by US experimentalist Meredith Monk.
For Douglas, Omni is about reconciling all those different sides of
himself – the songwriter, the raver, the lover, the observer. It’s a
hugely queer record: seductive, sexy, lusty, untethered from the genre
binary. “It’s even got sailors on it!” laughs Douglas. “You don’t get
more queer than that.”